Research Fellow – The Epidemiological Revolution
UE07 – £33,797 – £40,322
STIS / School of Social and Political Science
Fixed Term, 35 Hours per week
01/10/2021 – 30/06/2025
Number of posts – 2
We are looking for two Postdoctoral Research Fellows to play an important role within the ERC-funded research project The Epidemiological Revolution: A History of Epidemiological Reasoning. Both post-holders will work closely with Dr Lukas Engelmann over the next four years to pursue research on the history of epidemiology in the twentieth century.
The Opportunity:
Each of the two positions offers the opportunity to shape the project’s research agenda and to collaborate in developing novel digital methods. You will be expected to lead one of two research themes (‘Correlation’ or ‘Configuration’ – see below), to design and deliver historical case studies independently, and to contribute to digital research plans within the overall research agenda of the project.
Research theme 1 (Correlation): The history of data practices in epidemiological reasoning. You will work on the research practices of epidemiologists and investigate how the collection, storage and retrieval of data enabled the correlation of variables. Case studies might look for instance at the paper technologies with which epidemiological information was collected, how social categories (eg. age, race, gender, profession) were tabulated as epidemiological data, or how reports, forms and surveys have structured research questions and outcomes. This theme is concerned with the data infrastructures of epidemiology and seeks to develop a critical perspective on the field’s politics of standardisation and digitalisation.
Research theme 2 (Configuration): The history of transdisciplinary networks in epidemiological reasoning. Your position will be focused on the question of who was empowered to speak in the name of epidemiology, and who had the authority to produce and disseminate epidemiological knowledge. Beyond the mere history of a discipline, your case studies might follow bidirectional influences of the social and medical sciences in epidemiology and investigate how epidemiological methods and theories travelled beyond the study of infectious and chronic diseases. This theme is concerned with the social networks in which epidemiological knowledge is produced and will map the historical distribution of the field’s methods and theories.
Your skills and attributes for success:
- PhD (or near completion) in relevant historical or social science subject
- Experience in archive-based or oral historical research, or historical sociology
- Experience in working collaboratively
- Experience in digital research methods is highly desirable but not necessary
More info: https://elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1001/job/798/?utm_medium=jobshare
Lukas Engelmann’s project website: https://theepidemy.net
